The cloister - Notes

1. Matthew of Rievaulx, cited in M. Cassidy-Welch, Monastic Spaces and their Meanings (Turnhout, 2001), p. 65.
2. Aelred of Rievaulx, Spiritual Friendship, tr. M. E. Laker (Kalamazoo, 1977), III: 82 (p. 112). See P. Fergusson and S. Harrison, Rievaulx Abbey (New Haven and London, 1999), p. 65.
3. G. Coppack, ‘Description of Rievaulx Abbey in 1538-9’, Journal of the British Archaeological Association 139 (1986), pp. 101-133, p. 122.
4. The monks assembled in the north cloister walk for the daily Collation reading. The reader waited at the lectern with his book open in preparation until the abbot arrived, and when he did so each monk bowed as he passed. The abbot sat opposite the reader, the monks occupied stone benches. At the end of the reading the monks faced eastwards to bow and salute, as it was believed that this was the direction from which Christ would return.
5. The Rule states that the two cooks starting their duties in the kitchen for the week should wash the feet of those seated to the abbot’s left (the seniormost of the two should wash while the junior monk dries), whereas the two cooks who have just completed their work in the kitchen for the week should wash and dry the feet of those seated to the right of the abbot.
6. Ecclesiastica Officia, 21: 33-40 (p. 104).